To the editor: Relating to constructing in wildfire zones, California appears content material with the established order. County and metropolis governments are signing off on new houses in fireplace hazard zones at a dizzying tempo, with out correct evacuation planning or home-hardening assets.
An evaluation by the Heart for Organic Range, the place I work, discovered that, since 2021, native officers have authorized a minimum of 61,000 houses in areas designated by the state as “very excessive fireplace hazard severity zones.” This “construct now, cope with it later” method isn’t any approach to home Californians, particularly with the warnings from Topanga.
Residents there have been advised that when one other wildfire comes barreling by way of, they might be advised to shelter in place (“Are you able to survive a wildfire sheltering at dwelling? For one group, L.A. County Hearth says it could be the one possibility,” Nov. 24). What a horrifying prospect.
As Los Angeles prepares to mark one yr because the Palisades and Eaton fires, I sincerely hope cities and counties prioritize hardening current houses and steer new growth to safer areas near jobs and transportation facilities. The established order is unsustainable and lethal.
Tiffany Yap, Oakland
This writer is a senior scientist on the Heart for Organic Range.
